


Baby Bee and Farren

by Anonymous



Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Baby Bee, For the most part, There's other characters, and felt like putting it here, as it is in their point of view, as seen in the title, but I didn't really care to tag them, original character plays a large role, takes place in a who-knows-what-continuity, this is purely self-indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-29
Updated: 2020-01-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:21:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22458676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: It was a fairly crappy idea to visit a planet that was in the middle of a civil war, but the daemon wasn't really thinking when they arrived. Now, seeing the sparkling that had grown attached to them, they realized that they wouldn't be leaving Cybertron- or it's war- anytime soon.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10
Collections: Anonymous





	Baby Bee and Farren

**Author's Note:**

> A lot of elements were inspired by several fanfictions that focused on sparkling Bumblebee, and I had been stewing on this for awhile.

The daemon felt their stomach churn as they walked around the ruins of the city they had only just seen not even an hour ago gleaming proudly in the distance. By the time they had arrived, however, it was too late. The city was destroyed. This planet that they had been on for the past month, Cybertron, was slowly dying from the war that these giant robots seemed to believe more important than the lives of the innocents that were not involved. A frown made its way onto the daemon’s face. At least, one side didn’t care- decepticons, if they could recall correctly. From the look of the torn down buildings and bloody corpses, they had simply done this to prove a point. Farren snorted at that. They sure proved something. 

Carefully stepping around one of the greyed bodies, Farren shook their head at the stinging smoke that bit at their nose and eyes. They were not sure why they had come into the massacred city. The fight- if one could call it that- was long over, and they doubted that there were any survivors. Even if there was, what could they do? The cybertronians were metal, and Farren was… well, Farren still wasn’t really sure what they were. Deciding that there was no use to continue wandering around and feeling worse and worse about the death around them, Farren turned to go back the way they came. 

Only to stop when they heard a soft noise in the distance. Ears perking, Farren squinted their eyes at the direction of the noise, gaze glancing over the wreckage. For a moment, they thought they might have just been hearing things when a small bit of movement caught their eye. Farren cautiously slunk over to where they saw the movement, hesitant about the fact that it might be a decepticon who decided to hang back, but hopeful that they might have found someone who was still alive. As they got to the sight of the movement, Farren felt their eyes widen at the sight of a bot-  _ a femme,  _ their mind supplied- curled up against the rubble of a building. She was still alive, a soft yellow to her armor instead of the grey that Farren noticed that took over when one of the planet’s inhabitants died. 

Farren carefully approached the femme, making sure to keep their body non-threatening as they carefully nudged the bot’s knee. The yellow femme let out a weak, startled gasp as they looked up to make eye contact with the daemon. As she curled up closer to the wall, Farren realized that the femme had something wrapped in her arms. Cocking their head to the side, it took the daemon a moment to realize that the thing in the femme’s arms was a tiny, equally yellow bot. Worry sat heavy in their gut as they looked back up the femme. Wracking their brain for the correct word in their limited Cybertronian vocabulary, Farren finally asked in a gentle voice, “Alive?” as they gestured with their head to the little yellow youngling. 

The femme looked surprised at the fact that the strange looking creature could speak Cybertronian, but she gave a very hesitant nod. The daemon let relief show on their face before looking around at the surroundings before back down at the last two survivors of the burning city. “Not. Safe.... Here,” Farren let out haltingly, cursing themselves for not trying harder to learn more of this planet’s language, “Bad… come back? Maybe.”

“I know,” the femme replied softly, more relaxed now that the daemon did not seem to share the same bloodlust as the decepticons, “But I can’t.”

The daemon let out a confused whine, “Why? Not good… youngling.”

Shifting slightly, the femme revealed their torso, as to which Farren now understood. There was a gaping hole leaking the bot’s lifeblood. A lot of lifeblood. “I’m not going to survive much longer,” the femme croaked out, drawing Farren’s attention away from the wound, “I… can’t protect my sparkling, but… can I trust you?” 

Farren was silent for a moment before giving a careful nod. The bot in front of them was fading, and must have been desperate in order to ask a strange creature for help. Relief flowed off the femme as the carefully moved the- she said sparkling?- out to the daemon. “Please,” she gasped out, the blood lose worse now showing it’s toll on the femme, “I need you to take Bumblebee- find the autobots. They will care for him. And please… protect him.” Farren carefully took the dozing sparkling from the femme into their claws and pulled him close. The little bot was barely the size of the daemon’s head, which was alarming since Farren was not even half the size of most of the Cybertronians they’ve seen. 

Seeing that their sparkling had a chance of surival, the femme gestured for the daemon to come closer. After making sure the sparkling wouldn’t be jostled, Farren leaned towards the dying femme to see what she needed in her last moments, only for their eyes to widen in surprise as a gentle hand rested against their head. “What… what is your name?” the yellow femme asked, eyes already starting to become cloudy. 

“Farren,” the daemon managed to say as they watched as the yellow armor began to fade. 

The femme smiled gently as they looked down towards her sparkling with soft, sad eyes, “Farren, thank you.” At that, the femme’s eyes darkened and the gentle hand against Farren’s head dropped lifeless to the ground. Sorrow burned through Farren’s chest for the femme that they had just meet, and for the small sparkling who had woken up the moment their parent had passed away. 

The sparkling- Bumblebee- jolted awake with a pained cry. Tears spilt from their large blue eyes as they clutched their little chest while sobs tore through their mouth. Farren instantly bent down, wrapping their body around the little bot while gently nuzzling the hurting orphan. They stretched their aura around Bumblebee in hopes of calming the sparkling. Fat tears still slid down their face, but the sobs had tapered down into little hiccups as they looked up at the daemon nuzzling them in a mixture of confusion, sorrow, and just a little bit of curiosity. Their little hands wrapped around Farren’s muzzle and gripped the daemon’s fur. The daemon let out a calming purr in response as they allowed the little sparkling to draw comfort in anyway they could. 

They were not able to stay like that for long, as Farren could hear the sound of approaching jets come from the north. It was the same sound they had heard before the destruction of the city had happened. Bumblebee seemed to recognize the sound as well, as they let out a cry of terror as they attempted to hide themselves against the daemon. Farren let out a low hum of disgust at the approaching jets, the thought of tearing through metal flashing through their mind, but the crying sparkling that clung to them forced the idea away. They promised the femme that they would protect Bumblebee, and Farren knew that in order to do that, they needed to get themselves and the sparkling as far as they could from the decepticons. 

Twisting their head to look at the small bot, Farren noticed a small bar sticking up from the sparklings back that looked almost like some sort of scruff. Farren let out a small trill in their own language to get the sparkling’s attention, but blinked in surprise as the sparkling let out a soft trill back. It wasn’t their language, but it sounded close. They would have to investigate at a later date, as they bent their head down to Bumblebee, letting out a soft purr before gently grabbing the scruff bar, and lifting up the small bot. Bumblebee let out a click in surprise, but didn’t struggle or freak out, which was good for Farren. Apparently, the daemon’s aura was working in keeping the sparkling calm. Giving one last, saddened look back at the body of the femme, Farren moved quickly through the destruction away from the sound of jets all while trying not to let Bumblebee swing around too much.

Finally, the two made it to the edge of the city. Farren looked around for any possible decepticon sightings, and when there were none to be seen, they stepped out onto the open area that stretched far. Bumblebee was to be taken to the autobots, but Farren realized that they had hit a dilemma. One, they had no idea where the autobots were. Two, they had no idea what an autobot  _ looked  _ like. All of the Cybertronians looked like Cybertronians to them. The only way they would probably tell if it was an autobot or a decepticon is whether or not the bot tried to shoot them. Even then there was a chance that either faction would try to shoot the strange looking, non-metal creature on their planet. 

Bumblebee let out a small chirp at Farren’s stillness, the feeling of conflict washing through the daemon’s aura and causing the sparkling to squirm unhappily. Farren snapped out of their thoughts as the heard Bumblebee’s upset whimpers and mumbled a gentle apology as they continued forward. 

The gently sway of Farren walking ended up rocking the little sparkling to sleep as the two continued their trek to find the autobots. Something that Farren was grateful for. Bumblebee had just lost his mother- and possibly more- and had been taken away from his wrecked home by a strange creature that he didn’t even know. The poor thing was probably exhausted. Farren could also feel tiredness creep along their mind, but they mentally shook it away. While they had covered quite a bit of ground, the two were still closer to the ruins than the daemon liked, and they worried that if they stopped to rest now, there would be a greater chance of them being ambushed. So, the daemon kept walking at their steady pace, the little sparkling in their grasp resting peacefully with the aura wrapped around them like a blanket. 

It wasn’t until the light in the sky began to dip lower that Farren was met with trouble. The silence which had been the daemon’s companion on their trek was broken harshly by the sudden roar of engines as a jet suddenly appeared above them and dove down. The daemon was barely able to move out of the way, feet skidding across the ground as they twisted their body to keep themselves upright. Bumblebee had been awakened by the noise of the jet and by the movement and was now letting out upset wails as Farren turned to face the jet which had transformed into a Cybertronian. By the dangerous glint in their red eyes and the gun pointed in the daemon’s direction, Farren took a guess that this was  _ not  _ an autobot. 

Tail lashing tensely behind them, Farren could barely stop themselves from snarling at the decepticon before them; the only reason why they didn’t was because they didn’t want to scare the sparkling any more than he already was. So they instead settled for glaring dangerously at the bot across from them.”That,” the con rasped as they jabbed a finger at Bumblebee, “Is not yours.” 

With a snort, Farren gently set Bumblebee down against their leg with a calming chirp before looking up at the con scathingly, “Not yours. No take.” Ugh, that sounded horrible. They really needed to work on their Cybertronian.

The con scowled before aiming their missle at them and the sparkling, “Then perish.” 

Farren did not allow them to fire as they let out a growling shriek as aura blasted from their mouth. It slammed into the ground in front of the con with the explosion kicking up pieces of land and dust, effectively cutting off the jet’s sight. Taking the chance, Farren scooped Bee back up and took off for the cliffs that they had spotted not far from their position. They were almost there when laser fire zoomed past Farren. The daemon swerved in order to avoid getting hit, but the ground was loose, so instead of simply turning, the daemon’s feet slid across the ground as they skittered to the edge of the cliff. Bumblebee let out a cry of alarm when Farren’s back leg slipped off the side of the cliff, causing the two to dip unsteadily. They allowed themselves to fall all the way off the edge, their claws digging into the side of the cliff as the daemon slid hazardly down to the bottom.

As they hit the bottom, Farren curled themselves around Bumblebee to take the brunt of the impact as the two rolled against the ground. Once they stopped, the daemon uncurled to make sure the sparkling was unharmed. Besides looking tired and disoriented, Bee looked to be okay. Sighing, Farren nuzzled the little bot in hopes to make him feel better. They instantly clung to Farren, letting out little beeps and chirps as they huddled close. Farren chirped back reassuringly before looking around at their surroundings. A small crack caught their eye on the side of the cliff, small enough that they couldn’t fit in, but one that Bumblebee certainly could hide in. 

The daemon took the sparkling over to the crack as the sound of jet engines got closer, sticking their muzzle inside to make sure that nothing was there before nudging the little bot inside. Bumblebee let out a whine as Farren drew back, upset that his only comfort was moving away from him. Farren paused to give him a trill, hoping to reassure the young one that they would be back. They couldn’t do anything else, as the sound of transforming came from behind them, along with the sound of something heavy hitting the ground. 

Lifting up their head, Farren narrowed their eyes as the decepticon from before had been joined by two other jets. Farren adjusted themselves to their full height as they stationed themselves in front of Bee’s hiding place with a snarl. The jets looked hesitant for a moment at the sight of the furious daemon, but the leader stepped forward and once again aimed their arm missiles at the creature. “Give us the sparkling, and we will allow you to leave in one piece,” the leader hissed. 

“No,” Farren hissed back, launching themself forward as they collided against the leader. The daemon sank their teeth into the con’s shoulder, the metal screeching as it bent from the pressure. The jet screeched loudly as they struggled to toss off the snarling form of Farren. A fist collided against Farren’s head, knocking them off their target and onto the ground. The daemon hit the ground feet first and leapt at the con once again, but was cut off as they were bodily slammed by one of the other jets. Something sharp dug into Farren’s side, the feeling of blood sliding down their fur. The two smashed against the ground in a whirlwind of claws and blades, tearing at each other until a loud wail pierced the air. 

The third jet had made their way to the crack where Bumblebee was hiding, and was now attempting to grab at the sparkling, who was trying their best to stay out of the reach of the con. Farren shoved the con they were fighting with a sharp kick of their hind leg, the jet colliding against the leader and causing them to collapse into a heap. With a furious roar, Farren leapt at the con who was attempting to snatch Bee. The jet turned in alarm, but couldn’t do anything as Farren wrapped their jaws around their head and snapped their teeth down with a sickening crunch. The con’s body went limp as Farren shoved it to the side, turning to face the two remaining jets with the Cybertronian’s weird pink blood staining their bared teeth. “No.”

It was dark as Farren stood panting as three greyed bodies lay scattered before them. The decepticons had put up a good fight; their blades had meet the daemon’s flesh several time- two still dripping blood even after the fight. The daemon themself was splattered with pink blood as they turned back and crouched low to Bumblebee’s hiding place. “Bee?” Farren chirped looking into the crack, “Safe?” A little yellow blur sudden darted out of the hiding place, colliding against the daemon’s head as a flurry of buzzes and whistles sounded from the terrified sparkling. Farren chuckled as little hands dug into their fur, grateful that the little one did not seem injured. They shifted their head until they had nestled the sparkling against their side, the daemon curling around Bumblebee until the little bot was hidden from the world before laying their head against the ground. They gazed softly at the little bot, who’s energy seemed to rush out of him the moment he leaned against the daemon’s downey fur. Letting out a sleepy yawn, Bee snuggled up closer to Farren’s side before his eyes shuttered close. Once Bee was asleep, Farren could feel their own eyes drifting close. The fight and blood lose had exhausted the daemon, and all they wanted to do was sleep. Maybe… a couple minutes wouldn’t hurt. 

******

The rumbling was what woke Farren up. Farren jerked their head up in alarm at the noise, awakening the sparkling that was curled against their side at the movement. It was light out, and that light gleamed off the metal of several approaching vehicles. Bumblebee let out a curious chirp at Farren’s apprehensive expression at the nearing group. Taking a moment to look down at their new charge, Farren noted that the little bot’s eyes were dimmer, and that they seemed to droop with something more than exhaustion. They were probably starving. Looking back up at the vehicles, which were almost to the area where Farren and Bee where curled up, Farren realized that these bots were possibly the sparkling’s only chance at getting fuel.

Standing up slowly, Farren made sure that Bumblebee was tucked safely behind their front leg. Feeling the sparkling cling to the limb, the daemon looked down to see the little bot peeking out from behind with large blue eyes before looking at them with a worried buzz. Farren purred softly at them in reply before looking up in time to see the vehicles transform into Cybertronians. 

The group of bots approached the daemon slowly as the creature stared at them cautiously with flattened ears and slightly bared fangs. They stopped several feet away from the daemon when Optimus Prime’s comm crackled to life.  _ :There’s three offlined con bodies. That organic must be pretty fierce.:  _ Jazz observed, looking impressed at the torn up jets that were laying close by. 

_ :But why is an organic even on Cybertron?:  _ came Ratchet’s grumbled voice  _ :How are they even alive?:  _

_ :That is what we are going to try and find out old friend.:  _ Optimus replied, but before they could do anything else, the daemon asked in heavily accented Cybertronian, “Autobots?”

The group shared startled looks before Optimus took a step forward, “We are indeed Autobots. I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots.” Gesturing to the two bots on his right side, he said, “This is Jazz and Ironhide, two of my soldiers.” He then gestured to the left, “And this is our medic, Ratchet.”

The daemon studied them carefully for a moment before replying, “Me, Farren. This,” they shifted their leg slightly to reveal the yellow sparkling who had remained hidden and silent, “Bumblebee.” Gasps sounded from the autobots as they stared at the little sparkling who clung to the daemon’s leg like a lifeline, staring at the bigger bots with wide eyes.

“That’s-That’s a-” Ironhide stuttered out, not believing his eyes at what he was seeing, “-a sparkling!”

“It certainly is,” Optimus murmured gently as he kneeled down to get a better look at the sparkling who stayed close to the creature called Farren. He was small, smaller than any sparkling that Optimus had ever seen, with a bright yellow protoform and the largest blue optics he's ever seen. The sparkling couldn’t be more than two vorns old. “Hello there little one,” Optimus greeted softly as he stretched out his servo, “I am Optimus Prime.” Bumblebee gazed at Optimus quietly before slowly moving out from behind the cover of the daemon’s leg. Under Farren’s sharp, watchful gaze, the sparkling reached out his own servo and gently gripped the tip of one of Optimus’ fingers. Smiling, Optimus reached out and rubbed the sparkling’s helm, who let out a soft giggle in return and fully left his hiding place to grab onto the Prime’s servo.

Glancing up, Optimus saw that the organic was staring at him with thoughtful optics. Although he was sure he knew the answer, he asked anyway, “Where are Bumblebee’s creators?”

Farren let out a soft whine, “Gone. Ask me. Protect Bee.” They nodded to the offlined bodies of the jets, “Find Autobots.” They nodded to the group before them before asking, “Autobots? Protect sparkling?” 

Ironhide snorted at the question, “What kind of stupid question is that?! Of course we’re gonna protect the sparkling!"

Farren let out a relieved huff, “Good. Bee safe.” The daemon ducked their head down to nuzzle the little sparkling gently one last time, electing a purr from Bumblebee before lifting their head back up and turning to leave. They only were able to get a few steps away from the group before Farren collapsed, forgetting that when they had fallen asleep, they had continued to lose blood at a slow pace. Bumblebee let out a shriek of alarm at seeing the creature that had protected him crash to the ground, but he couldn’t get to them as Optimus quickly swept up the yellow sparkling as Ratchet and Jazz moved forward to the passed out daemon. 

“Are they…?” Jazz trailed off as he peered around Ratchet’s shoulder, who was now kneeling next to Farren. 

“They’re still online,” Ratchet replied, easily lifting up the daemon, “They’ve lost a lot of lifeblood from their fight with the cons. Normally, I wouldn’t try to help something like this but…” the medic paused as he glanced at the tearful sparkling now in their possession, “It seems like I owe it to the little one.” 

Optimus nodded as he gently cradled Bumblebee to his chassis, “I believe we all owe Farren for protecting the last of the younglings. The least we can do is make sure they don’t offline surrounded by decepticons.” With that, the autobots transformed into their alt-mods , Bumblebee safely secured on one of Optimus’ seats while Farren was placed in the back of the ambulance mode of Ratchet before making their way back to the Arc.

In the medical bay, Ratchet had set the still passed out daemon on one of the berths before pointing Optimus to another. “I need to scan the sparkling to make sure that there is nothing wrong with him,” Ratchet explain as Optimus sat Bumblebee down on the berth, who instantly reached back out to Optimus with a whimper. The leader’s spark had been warm and welcoming to the little bot, which was one reason why he hadn’t been crying on their way back. Now that the bigger bot had drawn away from him, however, Bumblebee could feel himself getting upset once again. 

“It’s okay little one,” Optimus reassured the sparkling as Ratchet quickly ran the scanner over Bumblebee. As soon as he was done, Optimus once again held Bumblebee up against his chassis, calming the sparking with soothing pulses from his spark. 

Ratchet hummed as he looked over the information before looking over at the two of them, “Surprisingly, it seems that besides being very low on energon, Bumblebee is fine besides some dents and scratches. I don’t know how long Farren had him, but they took their job of protecting him seriously.” Turning his back to Optimus, he fixed up low-level energon that a sparkling could have before giving it to his leader. “Try to have Bumblebee drink this out of the med bay. I need to have a look at the organic, and I don’t need the sparkling to see the creature if they end up dying.” 

“Thank you Ratchet,” Optimus said as he took the energon cube from the medic, “Please keep me updated.” Saying that, the leader of the autobots left the medical facility cradling the last possible sparkling of their kind.

After Optimus left, Ratchet went to work on looking for anything in his medical supplies that might help the creature laying on the berth. The medic had just finished pulling out some mesh blankets when he felt like he was being watched. Turning, he blinked in surprise to see the daemon awake and staring at him with confused black and gold optics. “You’re awake,” Ratchet hummed as he came up to the organic, “Surprising, seeing how much lifeblood you’ve lost.” 

Farren didn’t answer the medic for a moment, instead taking time to look around the room before looking back at him with a frown. “Where?”

“You’re in the Ark’s medical facility,” Ratchet replied as he began to place the mesh against the bloody injuries of the daemon, “That sparkling you were protecting was very upset when you collapsed.”

Ears perked, Farren asked excitedly, “Bee? Good, safe?” 

“Yeah, yeah. Just a couple dents and scratches. Optimus is feeding him now.”

As Farren let out a sigh of relief as the dropped their head back on the berth, Ratchet decided that now was probably the best time to ask. “Why did you protect Bumblebee?” When the daemon looked over at Ratchet with a hum of confusion, the medic elborated, “There was no reason for you to protect the sparkling after his carrier died. You’re an organic- you can barely speak Cybertronian, and yet you almost killed yourself for a completely different species youngling.”

Farren snorted at Ratchet’s confusion. “Not organic,” the daemon corrected first, “Protect Bee…” Farren clicked in annoyance when they couldn’t bring up the right words to explain. 

Seeing the trouble the ‘not-organic’ was having, Ratchet sighed as he tapped on their side to get their attention. “Cybertronians know many different languages. Try speaking in one that you’re comfortable with.”

“Really?” Farren questioned, this time in a different language. When Ratchet nodded at them, they gave a slight grin. “Thank you. The reason I protected Bumblebee was because he was a youngling. It doesn’t matter that he is a completely different species from me. He is innocent, and therefore, must be protected.”

“At least your morals are in the right place,” Ratchet mumbled as he finished his attempt at patching up the daemon, “Unlike the decepticons.” Farren hummed in soft agreement with the medic, remembering their one and a-half-ish interactions with the cons. Silence stretched between the two as Ratchet put up his equipment before he ended up breaking it. “Since you’re here, would you mind answering some questions?”

*********

_ Some time later... _

Farren was stretched out against the cool floor, enjoying their alone time by napping peacefully. So peaceful, that they didn’t awake to the little thumps of peds quickly approaching from behind. A giggle sounded before something landed right onto Farren’s back, startling the daemon awake. Letting out a startled huff and jerking their head up, Farren turned to see the giggling form of Bumblebee grasping their back and looking very proud of himself. Snorting, Farren leaned forward and jabbed the yellow sparkling gently with their muzzle. Bee rolled off their back and onto the floor, still giggling. 

“Yes, yes,” Farren said as they stood up, “Very pleased with yourself, aren’t you?” All the received was a confirming chirp as Farren looked around with perked ears. “Isn’t Jazz supposed to be watching you right now?”

Bee attempted to give the daemon an innocent look with wide optics, but the mischievous grin that pushed it’s way into his faceplate ruined the affect as he replied sweetly, “Playin’ hide’n’seek. Jazzy is it.”

“Of course he is,” Farren sighed as they bent down to allow Bumblebee to clamore onto their back, “Let’s just say you won and find him, hm?” Bee gave a small buzz of disappointment that his game was cut short, but climbed onto the daemon’s back anyway. As Farren stood back up and began to head down the hall, his disappointment was quickly forgotten as the swaying movement of the daemon caused him to let out trills of excitement. Farren carrying him was always different from the rest of his caretakers and made for enjoyable rides- especially when Farren agreed to run. 

Farren grinned at the happy trills that sounded from the sparkling on their back, so much more different then the upset wails that had made up a good part of the beginning of their time here. After Farren had had a long conversation with Ratchet in regards to several things, they had been interrupted by Optimus running in with the wailing sparkling in his arms. It turned out that Bumblebee was suffering from the severed spark bond of his creators, something that Ratchet had ended up beating himself over the head with for not realizing. Bumblebee was much too young to deal with that, and needed to bond with somebot to heal the pain. Of course, Farren couldn’t do it, as they were not of cybertronian orgin, so the responsibility went to the large weapons master Ironhide. While Farren had been… hesitant about their charge- yes, their charge- bonding with the gruff autobot, they quickly saw how gentle he was with the sparkling and agreed with the others that the old mech was the best choice. 

Once Bumblebee seemed to have settled with his new family, they had planned to leave after their injuries had healed, but when the time came, Optimus had sat down with Farren and asked for them to stay and help watch over the yellow sparkling. Bumblebee, in the short time he had had with Farren, had grown very attached to the daemon. Since Farren didn’t really have anything else to do with their life, they agreed to stay.

Some time has passed since then, enough that Farren now had a better understanding of the Cybertronian language and culture. Bee was starting to get the grasp of talking and walking, but he was still in his sparkling stage and very,  _ very  _ small. Small enough that many of the bots on board were still hesitant about handling the sparkling that had joined them. 

“Bumblebee!” a frantic voice called out through the halls, snapping the daemon out of their musing. 

Glancing back at the grinning sparkling, Farren said in a casual voice, “Sounds like a worried Jazz. Should we go put him out of his misery?” The enthusiastic squeal that left Bee sounded like a ‘yes’ to them, so with a chuckle, the daemon picked up their pace to a trot to where they had heard Jazz frantically looking for the ‘missing’ sparkling. Peering around the corner, Farren spotted the black and white special ops mech on his knees looking through a vent in the hallway in an attempt to see if the yellow sparkling had somehow gotten into the Arc’s ventilation system. 

“Missing something?” Farren asked in amusement as they approached Jazz. 

The mech scrambled to his feet in surprise as he turned to face the daemon with slight horror on his face, “Farren! I was just-” He cut himself off as he spotted the giggling sparkling peeking out from his spot on Farren’s back. “Bee!!” Jazz exclaimed as he plucked him off Farren and spun him around, causing Bumblebee to shriek in joy at the motion. Jazz suddenly stopped spinning in realization and held Bumblebee out with a slight scowl on his face. “Ya’ lil troublemaker!” he scolded, “You should be lucky it was ‘Ren tha’ found ya instead of Ironhide.”

Farren snorted, “You mean that  _ you  _ should be lucky that he found me instead of Ironhide, or else you may be seeing the end of his cannons.” 

Jazz grinned down at the daemon as he brought Bumblebee up against his chassis, “I suppose ‘am lucky tha’ Bee’s got such a chill guardian.” Reaching down, he scratched Farren behind one of their ears, eliciting a purr from the creature. “One who won’ let anyone else know bout this lil’ mishap?”

“I suppose not,” Farren hummed, “Nothing happened besides my nap being disturbed anyway.” Seeing the apologetic grimace on the special op’s face, Farren added, “I had been planning to get up anyway to meet Wheeljack. He had been working on a special commlink for me so others can contact me when I have Bee.” 

“Jus’ make sure it won’t blow up on ya,” Jazz joked as they walked back to the rec room where he had been watching Bumblebee before their ‘game’ of hide’n’seek. 

“Ren stay?” Bee asked with a hopeful chirp as he was set on the ground next to the couch, looking up at the daemon with wide blue optics.

“I’ll be back when it’s time for your next meal,” Farren promised as they nuzzled the sparkling briefly, “Then I won’t leave your side for the rest of the orn.” The daemon’s eyes flickered to Jazz in hopes that they got the right word. The thumbs up from the mech reassured them and they nodded in thanks to him before heading out of the rec room and down to Wheeljack’s laboratory.

Nosing the door open, Farren felt their nose crinkle at the chemical smell, disgusted at the way it cloaked the air as they entered. “What are you doing in here?” they asked as they walked over to the scientist, who was crouched over a counter.

Wheeljack turned, his head fins lighting up a bright yellow as he set down his work and rushed over to the daemon, whose ears turned back slightly. It wasn’t that they disliked the scientist, it was just that sometimes… he was a little much. “A new weapon against the decepticons!” Wheeljack told Farren as he ushered them over to another part of the lab, “This one is sure to blow them all back!”

_ If it doesn’t blow us up first,  _ Farren thought without much heat to it as they leapt up onto the berth that was set up. They watched as the scientist dug through some stuff, his fins alight as he talked more in depth about his weapon, most of which that went completely over the daemon’s head, but they listened anyways. That is, until Wheeljack pulled out some sort of horror film needle looking thing and turned to them. “Is that…” Farren began, feeling themself grow tense.

“ -the chip that will act like a commlink!” Wheeljack finished for them, practically bounding over to the narrow eyes daemon.

“Is it safe?”

“Of course!”

“I feel like we should wait for Ratchet before injecting it right into my skull.”

“It’s fine,” Wheeljack scoffed with a wave of his hand, “I made sure that there was absolutely zero issues with it! It’ll be just like what we have! Plus more!”

“What do you mean, ‘plus more’?” Farren growled as the scientist turned their head to the side and positioned it at the point of injection, “Wheeljack, what did you add?!”

“You’ll see soon!” Wheeljack hummed as he then pushed the needle into Farren’s head. The daemon froze up as they felt something foreign go into their head. For a moment, everything felt fine, until a spurt of static raced across their vision with darkness following right afterward. The last thing that they were aware of was the sound of their head meeting metal. 

“ _ -Couldn’t you have waited for me?!” _

_ “We had it handled! It was just a little chip!” _

_ “A little chip that caused them to glitch apparently!” _

Farren twitched at the yelling voices, their eyes opening into slits as they tried to figure out who was yelling, and why they felt like Optimus himself had stepped on their head. The blurry shapes soon sharpened into the forms of Ratchet, Wheeljack, and Prowl. Ratchet seemed to be lecturing a slightly cowering Wheeljack, courtesy of the wretch that was being waved by the medic while Prowl was spectating. He was also the first one to notice that Farren was awake.

“How are you feeling?” Prowl asked the daemon, instantly gaining Ratchet’s attention.

The medic stopped yelling at Wheeljack and marched over to Farren before they could reply- shoving Prowl out of the way in the process- as he waggled his wretch in front of their face. “While I understand  _ Wheeljack  _ going ahead with something like this, I had thought that you knew better!” Ratchet scolded as he put up his wretch after one more threatening wave and taking the daemon’s head in his servos to make sure there was nothing else wrong.

Swallowing slightly, Farren croaked out, “Sorry Ratchet,” before flinching as the medic skimmed over where the needle had been injected. 

Frowning, Ratchet looked closer at the spot before asking, “How are you feeling?”

“Dizzy,” Farren replied, “My head feels like it got stepped on and my vision is still kind of blurry. Other than that, I’m okay.” 

Wheeljack, from his place safely away from Ratchet and his wrenches, asked with poorly concealed excitement, “So did the chip work?”

Before Farren could check, Ratchet interrupted with a wave of his servo, “Eh pe pe, you are going to do  _ nothing  _ with that chip until whatever affects have faded and I set up a scanner that can tell us exactly this chip has done to Farren’s head.” Wheeljack instantly looked disappointed at that, but he didn’t dare argue while a wrench was still in the medic’s reach. “Now, I want you to go to the medical facility and rest there for the rest of the orn.”

“But I promised Bee I’d be back with him before fueling,” Farren argued as they jerked their head out of Ratchet’s servos, only to let out a yelp as a sharp, static pain flashed across skull and they dropped their head to the berth with a whine. 

Looking unimpressed at the whining daemon, Ratchet turned to Prowl. “Tell the twins that they’re taking over Bee watching for Farren while I take them to the medical facility,” he ordered before turning to Wheeljack, “And  _ you.  _ If you try any experiments on  _ anyone  _ without my approval and supervision, I will personally take you apart- painfully- before putting you back together.” After Wheeljack gave the medic a thumbs up, he turned and easily lifted the daemon into his arms before leaving the lab. 

“You know I could have walked by myself to the facility,” Farren grumbled as they rested their chin against Ratchet’s arm, “Or at least walked on the ground as we went to it.” After saying this, Farren flinched at another stab of pain went through their head. 

“No need for you to faint and hit your head,” Ratchet replied as they got to the medical facility, “The last thing you need right now is more trauma to your brain.” The daemon snorted at that, but stayed quiet as they were placed on a berth before the medic went looking for a scanner. Farren sighed at the faint sound of Ratchet’s grumbling and knew that he was serious about the daemon staying the rest of the orn in here. Hopefully Bumblebee wasn’t too upset about them breaking their promise.

*****

“Bee  _ please?”  _ Ironhide was close to begging the little sparkling that was in his arms, once again offering up a bottle full of energon to him. Bumblebee simply turned his head with a grumpy frown while crossing his arms. The weapon’s specialist had no idea what brought this on. His sparkling had been happy and full of energy when Jazz had passed him off, but as soon as it was fueling time, Bumblebee’s mood had taken a turn for the worse, and he wouldn’t tell Ironhide why. 

Internally, the large mech groaned before shifting Bee around so the sparkling would face him. “Hey,” Ironhide tried to begin softly, “If you can’t tell me what’s wrong, then I can’t fix it, can I?  _ But  _ if you tell me what’s wrong, we can do something about it.”  _ And I can finally get some energon in you before it’s recharging time.  _ He saw a thoughtful look flicker through the other’s optics before he looked up at the larger mech with a large pout on his face.

“Ren prom’s be here. Bu’ Ren not here,” Bumblebee finally said in an upset voice, the beginning of tears starting to form at the end of the sparklings optics and a sure sign that a breakdown was soon to follow if something wasn’t done about the situation. 

_ That blasted daemon,  _ Ironhide growled to himself as he opened up his commlink,  _ they better have a good reason for breaking their promise to Bee. _

_ :Has anyone seen Farren?: _

_ :They’re with me in the Med Bay:  _ came Ratchet’s reply a few clicks later  _ :There was an… incident in Wheeljack’s lab.: _

This time, Ironhide did groan out loud, causing Bumblebee to look at his caretaker in confusion.  _ :Please don’t tell me Wheeljack blew up Bee’s favorite playmate: _

_ :No, nothing of that degree. They were trying out that experimental commlink for Farren- without my supervision- and things didn’t work out as expected.:  _

_ :Of course it didn’t: _

Optimus’ voice cut in,  _ :I will have to talk to Wheeljack about his experiments. Again.: _

_ :Like that would make a difference:  _ Ratchet grumbled before informing Ironhide,  _ :The twins are watching Bumblebee after fueling and, if necessary, they can bring Bee to see Farren.:  _

After a grunted thanks, Ironhide turned off his comm and directed his attention to the sparkling on his lap, who still looked near close to crying. Thinking about the best way to tell Bumblebee, the weapons specialist decided he should be forward with him. “Farren’s in the med bay.” At Bee’s horrified gasp as he brought his tiny servos to his intake and the tears amplified, Ironhide quickly added, “They’re okay! Just had a little accident with Wheeljack.” Bee still looked pretty upset about it, so Ironhide tried another direction, “Ratchet said that Sunstreaker and Sideswipe can take you to see them. But only if you drink all your energon.”

“Sunny ‘n Sides?” Bee asked, perking up at the names of some of his other favorite playmates. 

Nodding, Ironhide lifted Bumblebee back up into his arms and offered the energon bottle to the sparkling again, “Yup, but only after you take your energon. Don’t want to visit Farren on an empty fuel tank.” This seemed acceptable to the little bot, forgetting about his near breakdown as he latched onto the bottle and began to hungrily guzzle the sweet fuel, much to Ironhide’s relief. 

The twins entered the rec room as Bumblebee just finished his second bottle, optics dropped contently as he purred happily in his guardian's arms. Seeing the two, however, instantly brought the sparkling out of his out of calm revere as he sat up with an excited chirp and held out his arms towards Sideswipe. Said mech grinned at the little bot as he swept him out of Ironhide’s arms and tossed him up once in the air, causing Bee to giggle at the motion. “How’s the little terror doing?” Sideswipe cooed at the sparkling as he brought him down into his arms, avoiding the glare from the weapon’s specialist “Heard you caused Ironhide trouble with fueling earlier.”

“Not Bee!” the sparkling chirped as he waved his arms from his position, optics wide as they could go. 

“Sure you weren’t,” Sunstreaker replied as he rubbed his servo between the sparkling’s horns. After Bumblebee let out a purr, the mech pulled back and looked towards Ironhide, “Why are we watching Bee anyway? All we got was a message from Prowl telling us that we had sparkling duty after fueling until it was this little guy’s recharge time. Wasn’t that daemon supposed to be watching him?”

When Sunstreaker said that, Bumblebee gasped in remembrance as he turned in Sideswipe’s arms to look up at the mech and tugged at his armor. “Ren hurt!” the yellow sparkling informed, “Need see Ren! Take Bee!”

“They’re hurt?” 

“They got caught up in another one of Wheeljack’s experiments,” Ironhide elaborated as he stood up slowly from where he had been sitting, “The only way Bumblebee agreed to take his energon was if you two took him down to the med bay to see them when you got here. Have fun with that.” With a wave of his servo, Ironhide left before he could hear either of the twins bellyaching.

Both twins let out a groan at the thought of going into the med bay where Ratchet undoubtedly wouldn’t hesitate to hurl a wrench at either of them if they caused any sort of disturbance. “Bee, are you  _ sure  _ we can’t just wait for the creature to come out on their own to see them? I doubt they’d be in there for long,” Sunstreaker asked hopefully, but as Bumblebee looked at him with a stubborn look on his face, the golden twin let out another groan before snatching the yellow sparkling out of his brother’s arms into his own, electing a ‘hey!’ from the red twin. “If we’re going in there,  _ I  _ get the sparkling shield.”

Sideswipe grouched at Sunstreaker as they left the rec room towards where Farren was with Bumblebee giggling at the interaction. As they got closer, Bee’s giggles tampered off as he looked on with apprehension and worry about his furry guardian. He hoped it was nothing like what had happened to them after those mean bots had attacked and when the autobots had found him. He did  _ not  _ want to see Ren collapse again. 

As they got to the door, the twins looked at each other, internally debating between who would open the door and go in first. Unfortunately for Sunstreaker, Bumblebee’s impatience was starting to show as he bounced in the golden twin’s arms while reaching for the door. Carefully and quietly opening the med bay’s door, Sunstreaker poked his helm in half expecting for a wrench to already be hurtling towards him. When there was none, he pushed the door open more and walked in with Sideswipe walking carefully behind him. 

Ratchet was nowhere to be seen much to their relief as they walked further into the medical bay. Bee let out a soft squeal when he saw Farren, who was resting on one of the medical berths looking no worse for wear. At Bumblebee’s squeal, the daemon flinched awake, optics snapping open as they lifted their head to see what had made the noise. Upon seeing the small yellow sparkling, the daemon instantly perked up with a wide grin. “‘Ren!” Bee squealed again as Sunstreaker set the sparkling down in front of Farren, who instantly wrapped his servos around the daemon’s muzzle in excitement of seeing his guardian whole and uninjured. Farren purred in response to the little one’s enthusiasm, just as excited to see the other. 

It was when Sunstreaker let out a small cough to announce that they were still there that Farren carefully pulled their head away from Bumblebee’s grasp to look at the two autobots in front of them. “Sorry. How bad was it?”

Sideswipe shrugged as he leaned against the medical berth, “We didn’t see it, but from how Ironhide looked, Bee was not in the least bit thrilled that you ‘broke’ your promise.” He gave a pointed look at Bumblebee, but the sparkling was completely ignoring the conversation as he let out soft trills as he played with Farren’s claws.

“I’ll have to apologies to him later then,” Farren sighed before eyeing the twins carefully, “Are you two planning on staying here?”

“We have to watch Bee since you’re currently on ‘medical leave’,” Sunstreaker explained as he made himself comfortable on an empty medical berth. 

“And since Bee doesn’t look like he has any intention of leaving you, that means we have to stay here,” Sideswipe finished.

Farren let out a low hum at the explanation, “Well, Ratchet is going to be out for a while, so as long as you guys don’t touch anything, there won’t be any reason for this to end in disaster.” 

After the twins offended voices died down from Farren’s jab, the medical bay sank into an oddly peaceful atmosphere. Bumblebee had fallen asleep tucked against the daemon’s fur, the other keeping a drowsy eye on him. Sunstreaker had started drawing not long ago, every so often glancing towards Farren and Bee. They had a guess on what the mech was drawing, but didn’t comment on it. They knew not to bother him while he was drawing. And Sideswipe… he was doing something out of the daemon’s line of sight.  _ That  _ was something that they planned to fully avoid, as they knew it was going to come back to bite the red twin in the aft later on.

It was quite a while later when Ratchet finally returned. Farren was the first to hear him, eyes darting down to the sparkling back up to the medic in a slight warning to stay quiet when he entered. Ratchet gave a small nod as he glanced at the other two mechs in the bay, his face forming into a scowl. Two mechs who were currently passed out on separate medical berths, completely neglecting the fact that they were  _ supposed  _ to be watching Bumblebee. Farren watched as his hand twitched towards where the medic kept his wrenches, but another glance at the dozing sparkling stilled his hand.

Letting out an annoyed grunt, Ratchet moved to another part of the bay, pulling out a scanner and heading back over to Farren. Quietly, he scanned the daemon. After a few moments of silently scanning the datapad in front of him, the medic sighed. “While the chip is certainly doing  _ something  _ to your brain module, it doesn’t seem to be doing anything harmful after that initial surge.”

“So I can use it?”

“Not yet,” Ratchet growled as he smacked the daemon lightly on the head with the data pad, “I want Perceptor to look over it, see if he can find anything wrong, and you still need to heal after that glitch you had.”

Farren gave the mech a disgruntled look, “So I have to stay here for even longer?”

“No,” Ratchet replied after looking at the daemon thoughtfully, “You can go,  _ but  _ I want you to be taking it easy for the next couple orns. I don’t want to see you coming back here complaining about any sort of pain, or else I  _ will  _ make sure you stay here, even if I have to strap you down to one of the berths.”

Farren gave a small swallow at the medic’s threat before nodding, “I got it. I’ll go take Bee to Ironhide’s room, it’s close to recharging time for him.” 

At Ratchet’s confirmation, Farren carefully scooped up the sparkling by the scruff bar and leapt down from the medical berth. Swaying ever so slightly from having been lying down for an extended period of time, the daemon headed out of their ‘prison’. As soon as the doors closed behind them, Farren heard two clangs of metal, one after the other, and yelps from the twins. Smirking slightly at the noise, they headed down to where Ironhide would hopefully be to take Bumblebee in for the night. 

As Farren walked down the hallway towards Ironhide’s room, a weird, hostile feeling washed over them, causing the daemon’s fur to bristle as the looked around the area. Nothing seemed to be out of place, but the feeling of wrongness had wedged itself into Farren. The daemon quickly began to make their way to where they hoped Ironhide would be so that Bumblebee would be in safer servos. They were maybe a hundred feet away from their intended destination when an explosion sounded very close to where they were, shaking the Arc and knocking Farren off their feet. 

The daemon crashed into the ground, the noise and movement waking the small sparkling that had released from their grasp. Bumblebee let out a cry of confusion and alarm as he rolled against the ground, but was quickly snatched by Farren’s claws as they pulled the small bot to them. Looking up at their guardian, Bee buzzed and chirped at the daemon, reverting back to sparkling chatter. Farren trilled back at him in hopes to comfort the yellow sparkling as they dizzly got back to their feet. The explosion and collision against the floor had not been kind to their still healing head. 

Another explosion sounded, further away, but still jarring for the two. Bumblebee let out a cry of fear as red lights began flashing overhead and an alarm sounded.  _ Frag,  _ Farren realized as they quickly lifted Bee back up,  _ Optimus told me that raids by the Decepticons were a very probable thing to happen. Is this what this is?  _ The daemon was alone with possibly last sparkling in existence, with no autobots around, a very small chance of contacting them, and with a possible chance of the explosions being the result of a deception attack. “Alright Bee,” Farren mumbled as they headed quickly in the opposite direction of where the explosions may have happened, “We can do this. You’re a brave sparkling and you’ve got me to protect you.”

The whimpering sparkling looked up at the daemon carrying him, optics brightening slightly, “‘Bee brave?”

“The bravest I know,” Farren confirmed, the tense ball they felt loosening a little at the sparkling's happy buzz at being called brave. They turned a corner, only to quickly backtrack at seeing what was down the corridor. Crouching down, Farren peered down the hallway to see two large, dangerous looking mechs sneaking the opposite direction of where they were hiding. There was no doubt that they were decepticons. Mind connecting the dots, Farren realized that the explosions were probably a distraction. While the Autobots were heading for the loud attack of the other decepticons, these two had snuck aboard. 

Ears flattening, Farren realized their dilemma. Whatever the decepticons were up to, they had a chance to stop it, or at least slow it down, but… They could feel Bumblebee shaking in fear from where he was hanging from the daemon’s jaws. No, Bumblebee was their first and only priority. They were not aboard the Arc to fight in the Cybertronian's war. They were here to protect Bee and Bee only. The Autobots were strong, and had numbers. They could handle whatever the Decepticons threw at them without the daemon’s help.

They were about to turn around and head away while the decepticons’ backs were turned, only to freeze when the blue mech spoke up in a monotone voice, “Soundwave: detects others. Observation: We are being watched.” The blue mech turned around sharply, causing Farren to jerk back behind the wall, but not before they caught the gleaming visor of the blue mech and the glowing red optics of the dark grey mech that towered higher than Optimus. Bumblebee had stopped whimpering, the presence of the two mechs silencing him in fear. 

Farren realized that there was a good possibility that the decepticons did not know that Bee existed, as they had killed the three jets who had been after the sparkling before the two of them had went under the autobots care. If they found out that there was still a sparkling in existence… The sound of heavy, approaching footsteps snapped Farren out of their horrified mindset. Setting themselves into a firm resolve of keeping their charge a secret, the daemon spun around and took off down the hall, intent on finding the other autobots. Which meant that they were going to use the microchip that Ratchet had warned them not to use.  _ Sorry Ratchet.  _

*******

On a different part of the Arc, it was absolute chaos. A large squadron of Decepticons had attacked without warning, forcing the scattered Autobots to react quickly as explosions shook the Arc as it rained enemy fire. 

Firing off his cannon at one of the drones, Ironhide frantically looked around in the chaos of fighting bots and smoke, hoping- and yet not hoping- to have some sort of glimpse of his missing sparkling and the daemon that Ratchet had said had been watching him.  _ :Any sight of Bumblebee?!:  _ The weapons specialist commed out, only to receive negative sightings from the others. The worry that burned in his spark was quickly turned to fury as he continued to trash any decepticon in his path. 

_ :Farren is with Bumblebee:  _ Optimus commed to Ironhide in an attempt to calm the other, although it was clear that the autobot leader was just as worried about the sparkling as he was,  _ :They will not let anything happen to him:. _ As much as Ironhide tried to agree with it, he still was unsure about the daemon that was now on the Arc. It wasn’t cybertronian, but it wasn’t an organic either. They were too much of a mystery for Ironhide to put his trust in, but-

_ : _ _ -Isiuhl---- An%y oN332eee***8th--re?///:  _ A staticky voice suddenly blared into their comms, causing several autobots to flinch before they were forced to focus on the fight again. 

“Who in Primus was t-” Prowl’s aggravated voice cut off as the voice spoke up again over the commlinks.

_ :nEE- - -dddd he$$*l9p. %@#--have…<<.Be’’’’/E. ppp@1lase[[[ Dec^^eptiiicons- - -close &7b``y!:  _

_ :That’s Farren!:  _ Wheeljack’s excited voice sounded over the commlinks  _ :The microchip works!:  _

_ :That blasted daemon is usi-:  _ Ratchet’s enraged voice began, but Optimus cut him off.

_ :Farren, where are you and Bumblebee right now?: _

_ :....C)000rridor 2#3. A%%%mo$T t)0 @@24#,<<: _

_ :Me and Blades are near that area:  _ Trailbreaker spoke up,  _ :We can get there quickest: _

_ :Then we will leave it to you both: _

Ironhide let out a growl as the comms went silent, ripping into a drone that thought it could take him on. He was way too far from where Farren said that they and Bee were. He wanted to go straight to his sparkling, but there was no way for him to get there in time before the daemon was forced to deal with decepticons. The image of three deactivated bodies of the jets that Farren took down suddenly flashed in his memory and the old mech let out a grunt of annoyance as he continued to battle.  _ At least I know Bee will be well protected. _

*****

Farren felt themself stumble slightly as they hurried down the long hallways of the Arc, they use of the microchip causing their head to pound painfully. But the terrified sparkling that they were holding forced the daemon to keep moving forward determinedly. Behind them aways, Farren could feel the oppressing auras of the two decepticons not too far behind. If they took any sort of break, the mechs would catch up and discover Bumblebee. 

Swiftly turning into corridor 24, Farren barely was able to stop as a body appeared in front of them. A threatening snarl rose up their throat, but the daemon swallowed it when they realized that the mech in front of them was Blades. Trailbreaker was right behind him and exclaimed a relieved, “Bumblebee!” when he saw the sparkling hanging from the daemon’s jaws. Seeing two more of his guardians caused Bee to let out several chirps and clicks as he held his arms out to the former street fighter.

Farren gladly deposited the yellow sparkling into Blades outstretched hand. “The two decepticons are not far behind,” Farren informed the two autobots tiredly, “They don’t know know about Bumblebee, and I plan to keep it that way.”

“How?” Blades asked as he pulled Bee, who was already nodding off now that he was secure in someone’s arms, closer to his chassis.

“I’m going to keep the two occupied while you two get Bee to a safe place,” Farren instructed as they pushed their head against the mech to get the three of them going.

The two mechs looked like they were going to argue against the daemon going against two decepticons by themself when they were obviously already tired, but the soft clicking coming from Bumblebee, an obvious sign that he was stressed, was enough for them to keep their mouths shut as they took off down the hall to find a safe and hidden spot for the small sparkling. 

As soon as the small group was out of view, Farren turned and stood firm in the middle of the hallway, set on making sure that the two decepticons did not get past them until Bumblebee was far from the two of them. They did not have to wait long for them to appear. 

It was the grey mech that appeared first, annoyance scrawled across his face, but it turned to bewilderment as he saw the creature that stood in his path. It was… incredibly tiny. Although it’s face was set in dark determination that should have been scary, the thing was  _ maybe  _ the height of his knee, so it was more amusing than anything else. Once Soundwave was at his side, the grey mech sneered down at the tiny organic, “What is a pathetic organic like you doing in my path?”

The creature sneered back at him, “Making sure you do not go any farther.”

“Observation: Small organic speaks Cybertronian,” Soundwave’s monotonous voice spoke up, although there was a slight bit of surprise colored in it.

Ignoring Soundwave’s observation and kneeling down to the creature, Megatron smirked, “Oh? And how exactly do  _ you  _ plan to do that?”

“Like this fragger!” Farren snarled and launched themself right at Megatron’s face.

********

_ :Bumblebee is secure:  _ Trailbreaker announced a little while later. Relief flooded through Optimus as he took down another decepticon before replying,  _ :And Farren?: _

There were a few moments of silence before Blades replied instead,  _ :They’re staying behind to distract the decepticons. We just don’t know which decepticons they’re fighting. And I’m guessing the daemon doesn’t know either.: _

_ “Very well. Keep Bumblebee out of the way until we can finish the fight. Whoever else is close to corridor 24, please assist Farren if possible: _

Barely any time passed before a furious roar echoed through the Arc. A large explosion boomed right after, spraying the two sides with smoldering debris as a small, dark blue form was thrown through the new hole in the wall. It crashed to the ground with a snarl, and once some of the dust was clear, Optimus realized that it was Farren. The daemon was a mess of fur, energon, and blood. Teeth bared furiously, the autobot leader also realized that the daemon’s eyes had taken on a very dangerous and feral look that was focused on the mech that had caused the explosion. As the decepticon emerged from the billowing smoke, Optimus’ optics widened in surprise to see Megatron, energon dripping from a long slice across his face and part of his armor torn. It hit him that the energon splattered on the daemon was very likely to be Megatron's. 

“Megatron!” Optimus called out loudly, drawing the attention of both the warlord and the daemon. 

While Megtron’s expression turned even angrier, the feral look in Farren’s eyes faded as the recognized the autobot leader, only for it to turn into a look of panic. “Soundwave!” the daemon yelped, and took off pass Megtron back into the hole. The warlord let out a snarl as he turned to pursue the small creature, but Optimus moved forward and punched the other leader in the face, effectively distracting him from going after the other as the two began to battle. Farren was possibly the only chance they had to stop Soundwave from finding out about Bumblebee. 

Farren tore down the hallway in the direction they saw the blue decepticon go before Megatron had grabbed the daemon. They knew that the daemon had been trying to distract them from something, so while the daemon had to go at their all trying to fight off the large grey mech- who,  _ apparently  _ was the leader of the decepticons?- while the other went the same direction that Trailbreak and Blades had gone with Bumblebee. They just hoped that one of the autobots could warn the two. They really did not want to use the chip again. 

The sound of metal crashing against metal reached the daemon’s ears, causing them to pick up speed. They soon came to the sight of Blades locked in battle with the decepticon known as Soundwave, with Trailbreaker attempting to hit him with his blaster without hitting his fellow autobot. But Bumblebee was nowhere to be found. Making eye contact with Trailbreaker, the mech noticed the confused and panicked look on Farren’s face. Discreetly, he took one hand of his blaster and tapped his chassis gently with a wink. Which… confused the daemon even more. Was Bee  _ in  _ his chassis? Was this… some sort of Cybertronian anatomy that they were not familiar with? 

They’d ask Ratchet later, but for now, they were going to help Blades take this con down! With a screech, Farren leapt onto Soundwave’s back. The sudden and unexpected weight of the daemon lurched the blue mech to the side, giving Blades the chance to slug the other in the helm. Both daemon and con crashed to the ground. Soundwave recovered before Farren did, reaching behind him and grasping the daemon by the scruff. “Small one: desiste.” When Farren only snarled in reply, the blue mech simply tossed them off to the side while shooting his shoulder cannon at Blades.

The autobot moved in time that he only got hit in the shoulder, but the forced caused him to collide against Trailbreaker who was trying to scramble out of the way. The two hit the ground before Farren could do anything and a small cry from inside of Trailbreaker’s chassis caused everyone there to freeze up. Three in horror, and one in surprise. Soundwave’s visor snapped to where the cry had sounded. Farren instantly moved between the downed autobots and the decepticon with a protective snarl, daring the con to try anything. Soundwave stared at the group for several beats before he turned abruptly and took off back to where the big battle had been taking place. 

Farren didn’t move from their place, instead remaining on guard even though they felt their body and head throb in pain. When movement sounded behind them, the daemon turned to see Trailbreaker carefully open his chassis to reveal a pocket of space in which he gently pulled Bumblebee out off. The sparkling had wide, teary optics and was curled up into a ball, but looked unharmed. 

“Optimus just commed us and said that the decepticons have retreated,” Blades informed Farren as he sat down and slumped against the wall tiredly, “Ironhide and Ratchet are on their way to us now.” With the confirmation that the threat was gone, Farren followed the street fighter’s lead and slumped bonelessly to the ground, although they kept their focus on Bee as the sparkling clung to Trailcutter. 

Rapid footsteps approached them, and Farren turned their attention to a quickly approaching Ironhide, who didn’t look the slightest bit injured for a mech who had just been part of an enemy raid. The ancient mech zeroed in on Bumblebee and quickly swept the yellow sparkling out of Trailcutter’s servos into his own. Farren could hear Bee coo at his adopted sire as Ratchet passed by the two to tend to the two autobots who were still slumped against the ground. As the medic helped Blades off the ground, he looked over at Farren optics scanning the daemon’s energon and blood splattered form. 

“How injured are you?” Ratchet asked as he stabilized Blades, “Is any of it serious?”

“If you count broken bones serious,” Farren joked, but seeing the confusion on the medic’s face, they realized that Ratchet didn’t know what bones even were, “I’m alright Ratchet. Just tired. You should focus on the ones who are actually hurt.” Ratchet observed the daemon for a few more moments, trying to judge how truthful the daemon was being, but since his medical scanner only worked on cybertronians and such, he had no idea if Farren truly was okay. 

‘Alright then,” the medic muttered and began assisting Trailbreaker and Blades back to the med bay, but not before jerking his helm at Ironhide, “I want to look over both you and Bee for any injuries.”

Ironhide nodded, and began to follow Ratchet, but paused and looked back at Farren. The daemon hadn’t moved from their position on the floor. While the daemon had looked scary during battle, splattered in the warlord’s own energon, now, they looked downright pathetic. Holding in a sigh, Ironhide bent down with wheezing hydraulics. In one quick motion, Farren was swept into his empty arm, the other carefully holding his now recharging sparkling. Letting out a small noise of surprise at suddenly being suspended into a high position, Farren looked up at the weapons specialist, who refused to make eye contact with them as he continued to follow Ratchet. After staring up quietly at the mech for a moment, Farren finally let out a soft hum as they allowed themself to slump comfortably in the crook of his arm, eyes closing as the sway of the bot walking lulled them to sleep.

Of course, they were woken up later when Ratchet had unfortunately looked up what bones were. 

**Author's Note:**

> Congrats! You reached the end! Good chance this fic won't be up for long.


End file.
